George & Tammy's Jessica Chastain, actors' episode submissions, and more in EW's The Awardist

How George & Tammy star Jessica Chastain found Tammy Wynette's voice — and lived in her pain

Interview by Gerrad Hall
Illustration by Conor Merriman

Jessica Chastain gets it — she played two characters with the same name in as many years.

"Everyone likes to joke about my Tammys: Tammy Faye [Bakker] and Tammy Wynette," she says on the latest episode of EW's Awardist podcast (recorded prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike). But the reality is, "if you [compare] audio of the two, they could not sound more different, even their speaking voices. But it's interesting because... I was attached to play Tammy Wynette first."

The actress, who won an Oscar for her performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, was approached to play Wynette a decade ago. The many "false starts and stop" meant she had more time to research the legendary country singer over the years. Eventually, that story came to the small screen in Showtime's limited series George & Tammy, where she reteamed with Michael Shannon, here playing George Jones, but at one point the story was on track for the big screen. "It was gonna be a movie. We had a bunch of different directors, different casts," Chastain explains. "Different studios were interested, trying to get budgets to make sense — it would be a very expensive two-hour movie because there's so much music."

But the time paid off, allowing her to get more comfortable singing in front of people, learn where "the Nashville sound" sits in her own voice, read Wynette's books and talk to her family. "It gets to a point where you feel like you're sharing the skin with the character you're playing. And I really love that type of immersion when I'm acting."

Below, read excerpts from Chastain's conversation with The Awardist about her work on the series, which earned the actress her first Emmy nomination.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: If this project is something that had moved ahead 10 years ago, do you feel like you would've actually been comfortable enough to have done it?

JESSICA CHASTAIN: Honestly, if it had happened 10 years ago, we would've lip-synced. I mean, that's the truth. I don't know that we would've lip-synced to the actual George and Tammy, but I mean, I've learned so much during this process. I knew that you can go in and you do pre-records, and then you show up, and then you lip sync to your pre-record. So on set, you're just moving your mouth — that's kind of how it's done. And that's definitely what I've since learned. They also blend voices... And I find it so inauthentic and insane that you would take an actor who's pretending to do something or doing it, and then if they're doing it 50 percent, and then 50 percent is another artist — whether it be a dancer or a singer or a yodeler, whatever it is — and they're blending it so the audience has no idea and then everyone says, "Oh, the actor did it," and I mean, a computer did it. That's the reality. That's not a performance. That's some weird artificial me messing with. And when Michael Shannon, 'cause he's probably the most authentic person I've ever met in my life, when he came on board, he was adamant that not only did we need to sing the songs, but it needed to be live. And 95 percent of what is in our series is from the singing on the set live. It was crazy. That never would've happened 10 years ago.

He's in a band in real life, he sings — so when he suggested that did you need a minute? You must've been grateful that he pushed you and everyone to do that.

Well, I am now. [Laughs] But at the time, I was so happy that he was gonna do it. I kind of felt like, oh good, he's gonna do it, I love him, and I'm gonna have a great scene partner, and he is gonna challenge me. And then that was something he was very passionate about. I couldn't just be like, no. [Laughs] This is what he wants so I gotta put my big girl pants on and figure out — I've been training for now a decade, and I have to figure out how to do it.... I was outta my comfort zone, but I really leaned on Mike.

It's one thing to perform the music, it's another to feel the emotions and intent of the words. In your reaction after Emmy nominations were announced, you cited the Tammy Wynette quote, "I believe you have to live the songs." What did you get to explore from an emotional aspect that you haven't with the other characters you've played?

Pain. Emotional and physical. And this idea of, where does her voice come from? I thought about when she left her first husband, her mom took her kids away. She was pregnant, she was institutionalized, and they gave her electric shock therapy while she was pregnant. And this — it kinda makes me wanna cry even think about it — what that does in your body. I'm one of those weird actors that, when I start to connect to a person, I feel what they're feeling, and so I thought about that a lot.... I just imagine what it is. And this idea that this woman had so much pain inflicted on her — emotional pain, physical pain. She had three dozen surgeries on her womb. Also her womanhood. This idea of this woman who is celebrated for being a woman, what does it mean to be the perfect woman? And how many times she [got] cut up. Uh, I just, that I really connected to the idea of the scream in the voice — there's a scream in "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." and I didn't think we'd use this take where I'm singing my voice cracks a bit and there's a tear. And I didn't mean for that to happen, but it kind of like seeped out — it's not like the perfect take of that song because my voice kind of closed for a second while I was feeling it. And that, to me, was something I'd never really explored before. This idea of where pain lives in your body, in your heart, in your womb, in your voice, and how does that come out?

When I sat down with you and Michael Shannon right before the series debuted, you told me, "I felt very scared about a lot of things on this show, but I never felt scared about showing up on set with Mike." So as you look back on it now, was there a specific scene, a moment, an aspect of the character that scared you most? And how were you able to confront that and get to the other side of it?

Well, definitely singing "Stand By Your Man" in Vegas. From the moment I signed on in 2011, I already was like, how am I gonna do that?

All eyes were on you.

Yeah. I'm literally holding up a target like, all right, throw the darts at me. And also, Georgette Jones — George Jones and Tammy Wynette's daughter — is there [because] she's a backup singer when we sing "Golden Ring." She's there on set with us, she's a professional singer. So to come from this situation where now all of a sudden I am singing and I have to feel like I belong here and all these sweet faces of these background artists are looking up at me and they're gonna hear my voice singing these words — that's the hardest thing I had to, you know, the hurdle.

Could you just put on a Tammy and George album and listen to it? Or is there a separation you need to make? How does it affect you now?

Now? Oh, no. I don't listen to it as much because I was obsessed. I listened to it all the time. Not only that, I listened to the influences of Tammy Wynette. Like, who did she listen to when she was growing up? So yes, of course, there's Hank Williams, but then there's the Lewallen Brothers, there's Kitty Wells, Lefty [Frizzell]. There's all these, these artists that she listened to. So I spent a lot of time in that world, which I grew to love the world. But now when I hear a song of theirs, it actually makes me emotional. Because in the way that you said — and even talking about it makes me emotional — "she said, 'you have to live the songs,'" I felt like I lived it. So every time I make a film — even Tree of Life... I love those boys and they would send me Mother's Day cards even after we stopped shooting — there's a bond and something that happens to me. I really feel like when I'm going through something that I'm experiencing it. I love Oscar [Isaac], but our friendship is different now than when we made Scenes From a Marriage, 'cause I experienced it. So sometimes when I hear George and Tammy, it's tough for me 'cause I feel heartbroken.

Listen to the full Awardist podcast interview with Chastain below.

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Emmys Flashback

Who submitted what?

Now that they're all nominated, actors submit just one episode for voters to consider. Here's the rundown of which episodes the lead and supporting drama and comedy nominees hope will win them Emmy gold.

Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Sharon Horgan — Bad Sisters: "Saving Grace"
Melanie Lynskey — Yellowjackets: "Burial"
Elisabeth Moss — The Handmaid's Tale: "Safe"
Bella Ramsey — The Last of Us: "When We Are in Need"
Keri Russell — The Diplomat: "Lambs in the Dark"
Sarah Snook — Succession: "Tailgate Party"

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Jeff Bridges — The Old Man: "I"
Brian Cox — Succession: "Rehearsal"
Kieran Culkin — Succession: "Church and State"
Bob Odenkirk — Better Call Saul: "Saul Gone"
Pedro Pascal — The Last of Us: "Kin"
Jeremy Strong — Succession: "With Open Eyes"

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Jennifer Coolidge — The White Lotus: "Arrivederci"
Elizabeth Debicki — The Crown: "Couple 31"
Meghann Fahy — The White Lotus: "Arrivederci"
Sabrina Impacciatore — The White Lotus: "Arrivederci"
Aubrey Plaza — The White Lotus: "That's Amore"
Rhea Seehorn — Better Call Saul: "Waterworks"
J. Smith-Cameron — Succession: "Living+"
Simona Tabasco — The White Lotus: "That's Amore"

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

F. Murray Abraham — The White Lotus: "Abductions"
Nicholas Braun — Succession: "America Decides"
Michael Imperioli — The White Lotus: "That's Amore"
Theo James — The White Lotus: "That's Amore"
Matthew Macfadyen — Succession: "Tailgate Party"
Alan Ruck — Succession: "Rehearsal"
Will Sharp — The White Lotus: "Arrivederci"
Alexander Skarsgård — Succession: "Kill List"

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Christina Applegate — Dead to Me: "We've Reached the End"
Rachel Brosnahan — The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: "Four Minutes"
Quinta Brunson — Abbott Elementary: "Teacher's Conference"
Natasha Lyonne — Poker Face: "Dead Man's Hand"
Jenna Ortega — Wednesday: "Friend or Woe"

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Bill Hader — Barry: "You're Charming"
Jason Segel — Shrinking: "Imposter Syndrome"
Martin Short — Only Murders in the Building: "The Tell"
Jason Sudeikis — Ted Lasso: "So Long, Farewell"
Jeremy Allen White — The Bear: "Braciole"

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Alex Borstein — The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: "The Testi-Roastial"
Ayo Edebiri — The Bear: "Review"
Janelle James — Abbott Elementary: "Fundraiser"
Sheryl Lee Ralph — Abbott Elementary: "Fire"
Juno Temple — Ted Lasso: "We'll Never Have Paris"
Hannah Waddingham — Ted Lasso: "International Break"
Jessica Williams — Shrinking: "Boop"

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Carrigan — Barry: "It Takes a Psycho"
Phil Dunster — Ted Lasso: "Mom City"
Brett Goldstein — Ted Lasso: "La Locker Room Aux Folles"
James Marsden — Jury Duty: "Ineffective Assistance"
Ebon Moss-Bachrach — The Bear: "Ceres"
Tyler James Williams — Abbott Elementary: "Educator of the Year"
Henry Winkler — Barry: "Bestest Place on Earth"

Tune in!

Original Music and Lyrics nominees at the 75th Emmy Awards vary from a musical episode standout and trashy production to a bye-bye ballad and a "weird" proclamation. Here's a look — and listen — to the nominated numbers.

Ginny & Georgia — "Marriage Is a Dungeon" (from episode "Hark! Darkness Descends!")

The L Word: Generation Q — "All About Me" (from episode "Questions For the Universe")

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel — "Your Personal Trash Can Man" (from episode "Susan")

Ted Lasso — "Fought & Lost" (from episode "Mom City)

Ted Lasso — "A Beautiful Game" (from episode "So Long, Farewell")

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story — "Now You Know"

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